Time for a new chapter! Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool return has Anfield faithful buzzing

In the Liverpool branches of Waterstone’s, Kenny Dalglish’s recent book does not sit on the shelves of ‘books that we recommend’.

Spaces there are taken by tomes featuring such luminaries as X Factor winner Matt Cardle and two leather-clad cooks called the Hairy Bikers.

The new Liverpool manager does, however, occupy a space on the ‘Scousers Who Dun [sic] Good’ shelf and, indeed, another for ‘Local Stories You Will Love’.

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Despite the fact that Dalglish — a Scotsman — is about as Scouse as Yorkshire pudding, it seems the nation’s favourite booksellers have pigeon-holed the 59-year-old just about right.

Few, of course, have done better during their time on Merseyside than King Kenny. Few have stories as fondly recalled.

Now — after a break of 20 years — it is his turn again. Yesterday, on a damp, dank day by the Mersey, Dalglish was centre stage in this great old city once more.

Around the corner from Waterstone’s, along St John’s Street in the splendidly designed new shopping hub ‘Liverpool One’, Dalglish has hurriedly been placed in prime position in the official club shop.

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As you walk in you cannot miss his souvenir box set. For the best part of £100, devotees can buy a replica shirt from 1985-86 along with a medal and a DVD of the Liverpool Double campaign he masterminded.

Elsewhere in the store, other replica shirts — from the 1978 European Cup final for example — already have the ‘D-word’ printed on the back. Win, lose or draw at home to Everton on Sunday, there is money to be made.

And why not? Liverpool have had it bad for too long. Watching Rafael Benitez carefully and disastrously dismantle everything he had built was bad enough. Seeing Roy Hodgson thrashing around out of his depth for six months was just plain ugly.

A Liverpool Echo poll yesterday revealed that 85 per cent of voters believe Hodgson’s time to be the worst in the club’s history. Those who remember the 1950s may disagree but the manner in which Liverpool followers feel they have suffered in recent times is clear.

Free thinkers among us may question how far Dalglish can take Liverpool. Will he be able to handle modern players? Will he cope with being told what to do by football director Damien Comolli?

Will his head threaten to ‘explode’, as it almost did after the 4-4 FA Cup draw with Everton that presaged his resignation 20 years ago? All are pertinent questions.

Currently, though, the philosophy in Liverpool would appear to be blind faith. Certainly Alan, the taxi driver who took me from the Albert Pub opposite the Kop into the city centre, had few doubts.

‘The past couple of years have been pitiful,’ he said with conviction.

‘The fact that some people seem to think a 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday was respectable says everything. Losing there should never be seen as OK, whatever the score.

'It wasn’t in Kenny’s day and it isn’t now. He will understand that. There are players in our dressing room who don’t seem to know what playing for this club means.

'By the end of this week I think they will.’

Glory days: Kenny Dalglish won the European Cup with Liverpool in 1978

The notion that Dalglish will spend this week knocking heads together seemed a popular one yesterday.

Certainly, there is a feeling on Merseyside that pride and self-respect have been allowed to slide away along with results in recent times. The fact that Liverpool’s players may not be good enough does not seem to have occurred to many.

Some fans I spoke to yesterday — including Alan the cabbie — seemed to think Dalglish can rocket Liverpool towards the Champions League places.

It is fanciful stuff but perhaps understandable. The last Liverpool team Dalglish built — if we exclude some desperate later signings — played with a swagger. They were a dashing group and his re-emergence has put the red half of the city into time-warp mode.

‘It’s obvious that we will look back,’ said Keith, a teacher, outside the Tate Gallery at the Albert Dock later in the day.

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‘There has been nothing for us to savour in recent times. Kenny’s appointment has got us all a bit melancholy. And we don’t always need much excuse for that around here.’

Along the way at the Liverpool Pictures store, the city’s history tumbles from the shelves. Old black and whites of The Beatles and city scenes sit alongside modern watercolours, featuring Antony Gormley’s ‘Men of Steel’ sculptures in the sea at nearby Crosby.

Interestingly, there are no Dalglish images here. Nor in the nearby Liverpudlian store. Instead, Liverpool FC are represented by reminders of their Champions League triumph of 2005 and, more tellingly, photos and images of the late Bill Shankly.

It is Shankly who is viewed as the father of Anfield. He is revered above all others.

Dalglish, though, is very much the favourite son. Back at Waterstone’s , Dalglish’s book sits at No 12 in the local bestsellers.

In the coming weeks, he may expect some upward movement. Both there and in the Barclays Premier League.